Wei Chen1, Joseph R. DiFranza2, Wei Huang3, Jean A. King4
1Center for Comparative Neuroimaging,Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA; 2Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Massachusetts Medical School; 3Center for Comparative Neuroimaging,Psychiatry, , University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA; 4Center for Comparative Neuroimaging,Psychiatry,, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
A method for mapping brain activation produced by a conditioned nicotine cue in a genetic model of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is described. In this method, rats were conditioned to associate a compartment of a Conditioned Place-Preference (CPP) apparatus to either nicotine or saline. Through the use of awake animals we were able to conduct the first study of drug-reward cue processing using fMRI in an animal model, which makes it available to use fMRI to compare food and drug reward cue processing in humans and in animal addiction models with the addition of molecular studies in the animals.
Keywords